Blogworld 2011: Yes, Virginia, There are Blogging Superheroes

This past week was a big one for me as I attended my first Blogworld Expo in Los Angeles. I had blast and learned a lot. I also presented in the program's cause track with two talented cause practitioners: Noland Hoshino and Megan Strand. A big thanks to Chris Noble for leading the cause track this year.

It was great to talk and visit with many old friends. But the very best part was meeting the old friends whom I had never met before. The "old friend" part was often one-sided as most of them had never heard of me.

But that didn't diminish my enthusiasm to meet them!

One of the first guys I ran into was Pat Flynn from the Smart Passive Income Blog. Pat was true to form and a very sincere, friendly guy - just like he is on his fabulous blog that teaches people how to make money from blogging in their underwear! Pat taught a great session on the importance of including podcasting and video in your blog to maximize your outreach.

Following Pat's presentation, I attended a more in depth session on podcasting with Lou Mongello. Lou completed what Pat started: I definitely will be giving podcasting a try in 2012!

I next ran into fellow New Englander Rich Brooks from Flyte New Media. I've been learning from Rich and his email newsletter for years. I credit him with getting me on Twitter! (Which means my wife wants to kill him. ;-)) It felt good to thank him in person for everything he's given me.

I was truly thrilled to finally meet Darren Rowse from Problogger. I've followed Darren since the very start of my blog in December 2004. Darren delivered a great presentation on blogging from the heart, which he does every day. He shared with us many of the struggles he had growing his business. I felt at many times like he was speaking directly to me. Blogging is a hard business, but Darren proves that nice guys do win and can still have a family and a soul.

Ryan Scott at Causecast didn't attend Blogworld, but when he heard that so many cause peeps were in town he took several of us out to dinner. Ryan shared some very exciting news about Causecast. And while I'll let him share the news with you first in the coming weeks, I'm really looking forward to posting on Causecast once the news is public.

It was great to meet Gerard Artavia, president and co-founder of Tevolution, which I wrote about back in July. I love Tevolution's business model: sell an outstanding product that gives back to charities in a big way. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I'll be able to buy Tevolution in Boston within the next few months.

I also finally met Chris Garrett, Grant Griffiths, Denise Wakeman, Jason Falls, Deborah Ng, C. C. Chapman, Jay Baer, Jessica Kirkwood, Jim Turner, Aaron Strout, Laura Gonzo, George Weiner, Joe Magee, Mike Nealis, Mike Dougherty and Jen and Paul of the For Dummies marketing team at Wiley Publishing. My apologies if I missed anyone.

Phew! What a week. Of course, I would remiss if I didn't mention my friend and Blogworld roommate John Haydon who kept me laughing from morning to night! John knows so many people in the the blogging world and is always so generous about sharing his contacts and friends in the industry with me. In short, John is a great person to hang out with at a conference!

I'm already looking forward to Blogworld 2012!